Sunday, May 27, 2012

Vintage Dresses in Whitehorse

4:50 sunrise
23:05 sunset

I had an awesome, unexpected Whitehorse experience today. A colleague sent me a message saying that a woman in town was "selling her vintage clothing collection" and that "she still has a number of small dresses for sale." I had absolutely no plans for the day (unless you count walking the dog and doing laundry) and so I figured I would go take a look. I was expecting a garage sale with maybe something cute on offer.

When I pulled up to the house, I was confused. There was nothing on the lawn and no signs. I almost drove away again but I thought.... maybe I should just go up to the door and check. Once I got out and peeked in the front door it was obvious that I was in the right place. This woman's living room was filled with clothing racks, divided by decades (50s, 60s, 70s and 80s).

Long story short, I ended up staying for over an hour trying things on. From a perfect 1980s hot pink taffeta number (which was too small and too much like something I could have worn to my grade 8 grad) to an amazing 1960s blue brocade ankle-length cocktail dress (that I am considering going back for) this house was full of awesome. And the crazy (to me anyway) thing is that this woman collected the clothes just because she liked them. Many of them (perhaps most) she has never worn - they weren't even her size.

Anytime a dress fit me I would come out of the bedroom where I was trying things on and this woman would squeal and say things like "you have the perfect 60s body!" Now, in my mind that means I look like Joan from Mad Men, which, even if untrue, I will take as a compliment!

There were some young girls there, shopping with their mother, and when I came out in a blue 50s prom dress (which I ended up buying) they said I looked like Tinkerbell.

I'm going to go with also untrue, but it was another compliment (I think) from the mouth of an 11 year old. I'll take Christina Hendricks☺.

Anyhow, I had a grand time trying on probably 20 or so dresses and I came home with these:

I was seriously tempted to buy another three but I didn't feel I could justify six new dresses in one day. They were well-priced but certainly not free and so I restrained myself. Who knew that someone in Whitehorse would have a house full of vintage clothing?! Certainly I didn't. It was a nice Sunday surprise!